SANTA CLARA, CA: Hitachi Data Systems has selected Bite as its North American AOR.

The company put out an RFP for the business in November. The search involved two competitive rounds of presentations.

The Next Fifteen agency started working with Hitachi last week. The firm is tasked with covering product launches, supporting though-leadership activities, enhancing the executive communications program, and evolving the company's external voice. Bite will also support Hitachi on analyst relations, influencer relations, and social media.

Its previous AOR, technology-focused agencyLois Paul and Partners, is finishing campaign tasks and is planning to officially end work with the company in mid-February.

“[Hitachi Data Systems] has been around for 25 years, so people have cemented opinions of who they are and what they do. They are looking at redefining the way people think about, talk about, and understand [the company] and what the company does,” said Sean Mills, the recently appointed Bite regional director for North America.

Seven agency staffers are working on the account, according to Chris Drago, director of global PR for Hitachi Data. The company's business includes providing storage infrastructure, management software, and consulting services.

Neither Hitachi nor Bite would disclose the names of the other agencies that pitched or the budget of the account.

“[Hitachi Data Systems] has been going through a corporate transformation for some time. We need a partner that can support us where we are today and take us where we are going,” said Drago. “Bite is going to help us go out and surprise and shock the world.”

Hitachi Data Systems and Bite previously worked together in 2009, when the firm was named AOR with the goal of more sharply targeting C-level business decision makers.

Next Fifteen said last month that Bite returned to profitability during the five-month period ending December 31, 2013. The firm appointed Mills to the regional director for North America role in the months after former CEO Andy Cunningham left to focus on SeriesC, the marketing consultancy she founded in 2012. He previously served as SVP in Edelman's New York technology practice.